the workshop

Well, last night I had anxiety dreams that no one would show up at the workshop. Luckily, my dreams did not come true and four families showed up.

We studied the texts around putting on a tallit so that we were all on the same page about the significance of a tallit . I brought in a bag full of different kinds of possible tallit fabrics ( mostly silks of different weights and weaves with one wool thrown in for good measure). The kids all tried on the different silks and selected what they wanted to make their tallitot out of ( no one wanted the wool).

It always stuns me. If you throw a bunch of fabric at a kid, there will be one that they will hug to their bodies. They stand up straight and they just begin to beam. That is the right fabric for their tallit.The kids loved feeling the silks but it was so clear which the right fabric was for each participant. The slower, more fraught decision was choosing the color.


Then I had to measure each kid. The tallit has to work for about the next 10-20 years. Some of these kids are within a few months of their Bar or Bat Mitzvah, others are more than two years away. I have to sort of divide the difference between where the child is now and how tall I anticipate their being as adults. Often I will measure both the child and their parent so I can make an educated guess. The size range among this batch of kids is pretty spectacular.

I was delighted that one of the mothers also want to make a tallit. Next session we will choose verses for the atara/neckband and begin making the atara/neckband and the pinot/corners